Rhona Shennan

Google has introduced a new way to interact with some of your favourite animals.

Thanks to the search engine’s augmented reality (AR) feature, you’ll be able to see different animals in your surroundings using your phone camera, much like mobile game, Pokemon Go.

For parents who have heard enough of kids begging for a pug, this should keep them quiet for about a minute (Photo: JPIMedia)

How to use it

If you Google ‘giant panda’, for example, just underneath the image search results and the Wikipedia description of the animal, you’ll see a little box that says, “Meet a life-sized giant panda up close.”

Next to that box will be a CGI panda moving around, and underneath will be the option to “view in 3D”.

Click “view in 3D” and then click “view in your space”.

Have you ever fancied a tiger for the office? (Photo: JPIMedia)

You’ll need to give Google access to your camera for it to be able to insert the panda into your surroundings.

Which animals does it work for?

This is all the animals so far that have been found through the augmented reality lens:

- Lion

Instead of bringing your dog to work, what about an augmented reality hedgehog? (Photo: JPIMedia)